1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method by which a process for changing a data structure in a document generated in accordance with a post-scan process is executed when generating vector data from scanned image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
An art of copying an image by inputting the image by an image input equipment connected to a network and outputting the image by another image output equipment connected to the network is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-331455(1999). Such a function of performing copying by image input and image output by different equipments on a network is called remote copying.
Further, an art of improving productivity of an image data output process by synchronously outputting image data to a plurality of image processing apparatuses is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H08-63345(1996).
Further, an art of converting a bitmap image, input by an image input apparatus, to drawing data that are not dependent on a resolution of the image input apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-23942. Such a process of converting a bitmap image to data that are not dependent on resolution is called vectorization or vectorizing, and data obtained as a result of vectorization are called vector data.
By using these arts, an input image can be converted to vector data that do not depend on resolution and can be transferred to another image output equipment across a network.
By then converting (rasterizing) the received vector data back to a bitmap image at the image output equipment side, a process of resolution conversion of the bitmap image is eliminated and image degradation due to the resolution conversion process can be prevented.
Thus, by combining these arts, high-definition remote copying can be realized for any image output apparatus on a network.
In generating vector data by vectorizing a scanned image, the vector data are generated according to a scanning direction. Here, in printing an image from the vector data by an equipment, if a printing direction differs from the scanning direction, the printing must be performed after rotating the bitmap data generated from the vector data. There is thus a problem that when a device is low in CPU performance or memory access speed, the rotation process takes much time. There is also a problem that when the vector data are rasterized to the bitmap data to perform printing, a large size of memory is required because the rotation process must be performed after expanding all of the data in the memory.
An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and an image forming method by which image data are prepared for performing image processing at high speed and while saving memory.